Amberism

oh!

All that updating and I forgot to update with the most non-baby exciting news we've got - Steve bought a new (old) truck!

It's a big monster of a thing, extended cab, turbo-diesel, {fill in appropriate boy happy truck descriptors here}, and it has a lot of tires. More tires than anything I've ever driven.

It's older than our old truck, and Steve bought it before the dealer reconditioned it so when he picked it up their idea of reconditioning was pretty disappointing. Especially since Steve spent two days cleaning our old truck and that baby shined it was so freaking clean. Now he's spent two days trying to get the new (old) truck clean and says it'll take at least another weekend, much to my dismay because that means that I don't get much in the way of breaks from mommyhood. Still, besides the cosemetic disappointment, the truck will serve its purpose well and seems to be mechanically sound so far. And now both Vegas and Sir Callum can come camping and it won't be a coin toss between the two :).

And in super happy news, we have someone to look after Sir Callum for Steve's work Christmas party! hee! This is so awesome for me on so many levels, it completely made my week. Quite possibly my month. heh.

Speaking of Sir Callum, he is now officially his birth weight! phew! Of course, I totally cheated* and have been giving him formula after every feed (to which he consumes anywhere from half an ounce to two ounces, totally a sign that my body simply wasn't giving him what he needed). This doesn't mean I'm free and clear, though. I'm to start taking medication to help my milk supply, pump after every feed, mix up bottles of formula for every feed, and medicate for the thrush. This is my life. If this medication doesn't work, my committment to this is done, I'll just breast feed in the morning and evening and bottle feed the rest of the day (actually, that sounds like a nice idea anyway. hmmmmm....).

*I live in breastfeeding nazi country, and if you ain't breastfeeding, you're the devil. If you're giving your baby formula, you're the devil. If you let your child cry, you're the devil. Basically, I'm the devil in disguise I guess. heh.

Update This and Update That

It takes a village to raise a child - African Proverb.

Behold, my village:

I should be folding laundry and cleaning bottles and pump stuff but instead I'm updating my blog. heh.

Callum Update

He still hasn't gained back his birth weight and his poop per day ratio isn't up to par (who knew you were suppose to count?!). We took him to the health unit on Tuesday to weigh him and I had a few quick questions for the nurse which turned into a full on lactation consultation and of course, me whipping out my breasts. One thing about motherhood, your breasts become public property. Will you ever feel the same way about them again?!

We're now on medication for the thrush (which I am now suffering from, too, on my breasts. My precious breasts really will never be the same people!). So after every feeding there is that added production of medicating all around. Plus, it hurts. All the time.

Tuesday's consultation turned into a second meeting on Thursday. Again, no weight gain so that meant further intervention was required. This time it's an electric pump. After every feed I now pump for 15 minutes so the feedings are 30-45 minutes of Callum chowing down, a bottle of previously pumped breast milk fed to Callum (which is such a miniscule amount its laughable to bother), then 15 minutes of pumping while my child screams because no one is holding him and comforting him, then we wash all the equipment and medicate myself, and of course, change Callum. By the time all this is complete, we're about 45 minutes to an hour away from the next feed.

Short version of above story - it sucks.

Besides that, though, Callum is doing really well! He's more alert now, and just starting to coo. He almost never does it, but when he does its heaven.

General Update

My Mom was here for the last week, and spent a lot of quality time with Sir Callum. We sent her off to Calgary Wednesday night, which was sad for all involved. On our way up to Comox airport we stopped at Kai Bay and another area along the back route to the Comox ariport and were almost blown away by the wind! It was wild.

Too sad to keep it blank

And so I'm posting this nothingness until the evening when I should have a minute to do a real update!

Out on the Town

Steve and I actually went out to The Keg* for dinner on Friday night with a group of friends, and then to a house party with Callum in tow. It was surprisingly smooth, Callum slept through dinner and I was able to feed him in the privacy of a home rather than the hustle and bustle of a very busy restaurant.

Now no one believes me when I say that the kid can scream for hours because he was a perfect little angel all evening. It was really nice to be able to go out for a bite to eat, and just generally leave the house for several hours.

Today is a cool and gray day, perfect for holing up indoors, which is basically all we've done all weekend. I did manage to wash all the sheets and clean two of the three bathrooms, though. Plus we washed every single blanket/clothing item that had been in contact with Sir Callum as he had an eye infection and we didn't want it to spread. It miraculously cleared up in a day, so I guess it wasn't anything too serious. Now if only his thrush would miraculously clear up in a day, that would rock.

**Baby and Girlie Stuff - You've Been Warned**

Question about breastfeeding - who out there breastfed and also pumped and bottlefed the breast milk? When did you start pumping, and how often? I'm actually not that keen on this breastfeeding idea. I mean, I'm keen in the sense that its best for baby and honestly, there is no reason for me not to in terms of my own health etc, but I find it makes me feel pretty trapped and the idea of getting Steve to feed with a bottle or have a bottle on hand for going out with every so often sounds like a nice alternative. I don't plan to stop breastfeeding, so don't worry about that, but I'm starting to think that he's really not getting enough milk at each feeding... that's something I'll discuss with the midwife next week, but pumping would at least give me some idea of what he is getting. I know he's gaining weight, so he's not starving or anything, I just suspect he needs a bit more and the store goes empty before he's full.

*they serve salmon, everyone always asks me what a vegetarian eats at The Keg

The snooze button

I miss my sister. And Michelle. And if anyone has any secrets to calming a baby with a tummy ache, I'm all ears as Callum has been crying for 3 hours...

For all you snooze button hitters, please explain. This has been something that I've never really understood about Steve. Every night he sets his alarm for 6:30 am. In the two years we've lived here, the man has never dragged his ass out of bed at 6:30 am. He gets up at 7:30 am, but insists that waking up is an hour long process. So for an hour every morning his alarm goes off and he violently reacts to hit snooze and reset. Every morning.

I don't get it. Wouldn't it make more sense, and give you an extra hour of sleep, if you set your alarm for say, 7:15 am and just hit snooze once?

and that's about all I can write since I have to attempt to calm a very upset little man...

Mommyhood

wow. After that beautiful post, I'm a little hesitant to write anything myself. And yes, I cried when I read it (or rather, when Michelle read it to me since I was in the hospital for 4 days).

I had originally thought I'd write up my birth story and post it. I don't think I'm ready to do that yet, and I doubt you'd really want to read it anyway.

I will, however, introduce you to my beautiful boy. Believe it or not, we don't have very many pictures on our computer yet, since we don't do much of the picture taking. But here's one from the car ride home. He looks like a grumpy little guy, but he's not :). I won't be posting too many pics here, though, so if you're hoping for updates, send me an email and I'll fill you in.

Life Begins

Amber asked me to update her blog while she's away for a few days, so here it is:

Some of what you read in blogs is real, some of it is shades of real, and some is fiction. This is real. My wife is amazing. I have seen her accomplish something in the past few days that I will never come close to if I live to 98. At 11:49 am on Monday night, Amber brought our son Callum out of the woumb and into the world. 14 hours of painful back-labour, followed by an epiderral and more contractions for 7 hours and finally 3 hours of pushing. Baby was stressed when he arrived, and was immediately cared for by a pediatrician. We cried and then held our breath until he cried, and cried some more when he finally did.

It's been done billions of times in thousands of Countries in thousands of different ways, and its remarkable every time it happens.

This child is going to be a beautiful person .... his Mom will teach him how.

-steve

I'll give you three guess what I'm going to say

That's right. No baby.

Although... apparently I'm having contractions so he's gotta show up soon, right?!

We went and had a non-stress test today and he's doing well, so that's a good sign. And I'm 1 cm dilated, also a good sign. Things are at least moving along.

Other than that, I really have nothing more to share. Just taking it easy, we went out for lunch and now we're going to watch yet another movie to pass the time. Pray that he's born this evening so that Michelle's trip out here was worth her while! We need your good vibes!